National Heritage Digitization Strategy funds 21 projects

The National Heritage Digitization Strategy (NHDS) announced yesterday the 21 winning projects that will receive funding under the Digitizing Canadian Collections funding call.

A total of $1 million will support projects by archives, libraries, and documentary heritage institutions throughout Canada to digitize, make accessible, and preserve analogue documentary heritage material of national significance.

First row, from left to right: Christina de Castell, Chief Librarian, Vancouver Public Library; Guy Berthiaume; Karen Knights, Vivo Media Arts Centre; Heather Gordon, City of Vancouver Archives; Ben Hyman, Vancouver Island University; Martha Whitehead and Guy Lesage.
Second row, from left to right: Geoff Harder, Andrea Mills and Paul Durand. Photo: Library and Archives Canada.

Martha Whitehead, chair of the NHDS, made the announcement during an event held Tuesday at the Vancouver Public Library, in the presence of recipient organizations from British Columbia.

Ms. Whitehead said, “Thanks to this funding, Canadian memory institutions will better protect their collections, and Canadians will have greater access to stories that reflect the depth and diversity of our country.”

Dr. Guy Berthiaume, the Librarian and Archivist of Canada, and the other members of the NHDS National Steering committee attended the event.

This funding opportunity was made possible thanks to a generous gift from a private foundation.

The following projects received funding:

1. Colony, Confederation and Country: Accessing the National Story Through the Lens of Prince Edward Island’s Historical Newspapers (Robertson Library, University of Prince Edward Island), Charlottetown, Prince Eward Island ($45,685)
2. The Robin Collection: Digitization, Access and Preservation (Musée de la Gaspésie), Gaspé, Quebec ($43,742)
3. Early Photographs of the Innu and Atikamekw Peoples (Université Laval Library), Quebec City, Quebec ($28,742)
4. Forging Fur-ways: the North West Company Fur Trade Collection (McGill University Library) Montreal, Quebec ($15,963)
5. Set of 146 Early Books in Indigenous Languages (1556-1900) (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec), Montreal, Quebec ($22,511)
6. Digitizing Past Issues of Bulletin d’histoire politique (Association québécoise d’histoire politique), Montreal, Quebec ($6,525)
7. Le Son des Français d’Amérique : Mixed Traces and Memories of Continents (Cinémathèque québécoise), Montreal, Quebec ($86,812)
8. Digitizing and Publishing Heritage Collections on Canadian History (Document Management and Archives Division, Université de Montréal), Montreal, Quebec ($81,141)
9. Discovering the Heritage of the Association canadienne-française de l’Ontario (1910–1990): A Living Memory! (Centre for Research on French Canadian Culture, University of Ottawa), Ottawa, Ontario ($86,805)
10. Digital John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (Queen’s University Library), Kingston, Ontario ($65,033)
11. The MacGregor Collection (The Canadian Canoe Museum), Peterborough, Ontario ($9,925)
12. Digitizing Inuit Artistic Heritage (Inuit Art Foundation), Toronto, Ontario ($80,786)
13. Healing and Education Through Digital Access (Algoma University), Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario ($86,890)
14. First Nations and Métis Oral History Digitization Project (Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan), Regina, Saskatchewan ($8,700)
15. Indian History Film Project Digitization (First Nations University of Canada), Regina, Saskatchewan ($19,414)
16. The Idea of the North: Exploring Evidence of Resilience and Change (University of Saskatchewan), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ($83,058)
17. Smoke Signals, Satellites and Servers: Digitizing the ANCS Television Archive (Sound Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta), Edmonton, Alberta ($36,744)
18. Chambermaids to Whistle Punks: The Labour and Lives of B.C. Women, 1890–1970 (Satellite Video Exchange Society), Vancouver, British Columbia ($16,098)
19. BC Gay and Lesbian Archives Audiovisual and Graphic Material Digitization Project (City of Vancouver Archives), Vancouver, British Columbia ($71,015)
20. What Becomes Canada: Digitizing Narratives of Exploration, Settlement, and Contact (Vancouver Island University Library), Nanaimo, British Columbia ($17,015)
21. Native Communications Society Digitization Project (Northwest Territories Archives), Yellowknife, Northwest Territories ($86,796)

More than 200 organizations applied for funding.